A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the photocopy reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure in exactly the form it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
The present invention relates in general to a gaming device, and in particular to a gaming device having a bonus scheme with multiple selection groups which increase player excitement and enjoyment.
Gaming machines currently exist with bonus schemes in which the player has one or more opportunities to choose a particular selection or symbol from a group of symbols. The symbols may be any symbol or image such as a number, letter or graphical representation of a person, place or thing. When a player chooses a symbol, existing games will either award the player a bonus value or terminate the bonus round. The outcome depends upon the particular symbol selected by the player.
In existing games, when the player selects a symbol that awards a bonus value (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9caward indicatorxe2x80x9d), the player receives the value, and the player has another chance to select another symbol. Each time the player selects an award indicator, the game prompts the player to make another selection. The bonus round continues and the player may choose another symbol. The player then selects another symbol, and this process continues until the player selects a symbol which terminates the bonus round (hereinafter referred to as an xe2x80x9cend-bonus indicatorxe2x80x9d).
When the player selects an end-bonus indicator, typically the game displays a message such as xe2x80x9cCOLLECT.xe2x80x9d This message means that the bonus round has terminated, and the player collects any bonus values the player accumulated.
Gaming machines with this type of bonus scheme are programmed so that in each bonus round a certain number of symbols are award indicators and a certain number of symbols are end-bonus indicators. For example, European Patent Application No. EP 0 945 837 A2 filed on Mar. 18, 1999, which is assigned on its face to WMS Gaming, Inc. discloses a bonus scheme generally of this type. This application discloses a bonus scheme where the player selects xe2x80x9cvalue-associated outcomesxe2x80x9d from a bonus game with a finite number of selections until selecting an xe2x80x9cend-bonusxe2x80x9d outcome. While this bonus scheme offers advantages in player appeal and excitement, there is a continuing need to develop new types of bonus games, which further enhance the level of player excitement and enjoyment.
The apparatus and method of the present invention provides a gaming device having a bonus round with multiple selection groups. The bonus round does not end upon an end-bonus indicator; rather, the bonus round ends when the player chooses a predetermined number of selections from the last or final selection group. The last or final selection group includes an award indicator associated with each selection. In one preferred embodiment of the present invention, the number of player choices or picks in the final selection group (referred to herein as xe2x80x9cfinal selection group picksxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cpicksxe2x80x9d) is determined from a selection group preceding the final selection group. However, it should be appreciated that the number of picks could be determined in any suitable manner.
More specifically, each bonus round of the bonus scheme of the present invention consists of at least one and possibly many displays. Each display may contain one or more selection groups. There are generally two types of selection groups: (i) a final selection group that preferably contains only award indicators; and all other (ii) selection groups that contain award indicators and other types of indicators. There are generally three types of indicators: (i) indicators showing game credits or a bonus value or award (herein referred to as xe2x80x9caward indicatorsxe2x80x9d); (ii) indicators advancing a player to another selection group (herein referred to as xe2x80x9cadvance indicatorsxe2x80x9d); and (iii) indicators designating the number of picks the player has from the final selection group (herein referred to as xe2x80x9cpicks indicatorsxe2x80x9d). It should be appreciated that in certain embodiments of the present invention, the award, advance and picks indicators could be combined. The indicators are initially masked by symbols or indicia, and the masked indicia are referred to herein as a xe2x80x9cselectionxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cselections.xe2x80x9d When a player chooses a selection, the game removes the indicia and displays or exhibits the indicator to the player.
The initial selection groups preferably contain award indicators and at least one advance indicator. There may be any number of initial selection groups. The number depends upon a bonus round theme designed to further enhance player excitement and enjoyment. Likewise, the game theme determines the number of indicators that any of the above mentioned groups contain. The selection group prior to the final selection group preferably contains at least one award indicator and at least one picks indicator. The final selection group only contains award indicators, which preferably have, on average, higher values than the prior selection groups.
Accordingly, prior to determining the number of picks, the preferred embodiment of the present invention provides the player with at least one selection group in which the player chooses selections which are award indicators until the player chooses an advance indicator that advances the player to the next selection group. Player excitement and enjoyment is enhanced because the present invention provides the player with multiple opportunities to achieve game credits and because the player is guaranteed to have at least one opportunity to select from the final selection group. In one embodiment of the present invention, the final selection group has larger values than the previous selection groups.
In one embodiment, all of the selection groups are contained in one display shown on a video monitor. In another embodiment, the bonus round employs multiple displays, one after another, which may contain one or more selection groups. The game theme determines whether the bonus round employs one or several displays.
In one preferred embodiment, the player selects award indicators from at least one initial selection group until the player selects an advance indicator and moves on to another selection group. When the player is at the selection group prior to the final selection group, the player selects award indicators until the player selects a picks indicator, which determines the number of picks the player will have from the final selection group. The player makes the predetermined number of picks from the final selection group which terminates the bonus round. A separate bonus meter and credit display update the player""s game credit accumulation during the bonus round and the player""s total credits, respectively. When the bonus round ends, the player returns to the normal operation of the gaming device.
In another embodiment, the player initially selects award indicators from a selection group (containing a picks indicator) until the player selects the picks indicator. The player then advances through a number of selection groups containing award indicators and advance indicators until reaching the final selection group.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the bonus scheme contains multiple selection groups that have picks indicators. The selection groups containing picks indicators could also contain advance indicators. In this embodiment, the game accumulates the bonus picks, which could be shown on a separate meter or counter, until the player advances to the final selection group.
In a further embodiment of the present invention, the bonus round does not terminate upon selection from the final selection group if a contingency occurs. For instance, if the player""s bonus credit at the end of the round is below a predetermined limit, the game provides the player with another round of selection groups including a final selection group. It should be appreciated that all of the embodiments of the present invention preferably terminate with a final selection group that contains only award indicators.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a gaming device having a bonus round that provides a player with multiple opportunities to achieve game credits and to guarantee the player of having at least one opportunity to select from a final selection group.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed disclosure, taken in conjunction with the accompanying sheets of drawings, wherein like numerals refer to like parts, elements, components, steps and processes.